Željko Ivanović

Željko Ivanović is a Montenegrin journalist, producer and human rights activist. He was born in Nikšić.

Education

After graduating from University of Belgrade's Faculty of Political Sciences, he became a journalist.Peter Dragicěvić Lonely Planet Montenegro - 2009 - Page 39 "Amnesty International has been following the case of Željko Ivanović, the director of the only other independent newspaper Vijesti (The News), who was badly beaten on the street by three men in September 2007. In an interview he claimed ..."

Career

He was the first constant Montenegrin reporter for '' Nin'', a newsmagazine published in Belgrade. He was a founder and one of the editors of the first Montenegrin political magazine ''Krug'' (1990) that promoted values of open society, democracy, and liberalism while nationalism was advancing in a dissolving SFRJ. After 11 issues, the magazine was no longer published. Ivanović then worked as a journalist and editor of a magazine ''Monitor'', a respectable anti-war weekly. He was also a managing director of ''Monitor''.

With a group of colleagues, Ivanović founded the first independent daily newspaper ''Vijesti'', which started coming out on 1 September 1997. Over time, ''Vijesti'' became the most circulated and the most influential voice in Montenegro. Since the beginning, ''Vijesti'' went through various phases of the relationship with the authorities in Podgorica. The daily supported Đukanović’s government war with federal Milošević-led administration, but after the Belgrade Agreement was signed in March 2002, started to be more critical towards the government in Podgorica, since the Agreement postponed the referendum on Montenegrin independence.

Following the referendum in May 2006 and Montenegrin independence, Vijesti became the most vicious critic of Đukanović and his administration. Đukanović then begun a long term campaign of pressures and attacks on Vijesti, in order to diminish their influence and change the editorial policy. This is how the attack on Ivanović happened on 1 September 2007, which democratic public recognized and marked as an attack on freedom of expression.

Affiliations

Ivanović is a South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) coordinator for Montenegro. The media organization in Vienna deals with protection of media freedoms in the Balkan and South East Europe.

Under his management in October 2003, daily Vijesti started the publishing action that counted over 3 million printed books of various content-from encyclopedias to belletristic and art books. This practice inspired other publishers from the region to follow the example of Vijesti.

See also

* Filip Kovačević
* Jovo Martinović

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanovic, Zeljko
Montenegrin journalists
Male journalists
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
People from Nikšić